Newer Legislators Led Charge to Oust Speaker After Learning of Plan to Retain Clout

ALBANY—A handful of Assembly members were gathered for beer and cocktails late Sunday night at Applebee’s, just outside the city limits, when tweets about Sheldon Silver started lighting up their cellphones.

That was how the lawmakers—a group of relatively new and young Democrats, including Sean Ryan, Brian Kavanagh, Nily Rozic, Todd Kaminsky and Anthony Brindisi, who had gathered to discuss the chamber’s leadership—learned of the...